Asia-ARVO is an official meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and is held every two years in different Asian countries. The 2011 Asia-ARVO meeting will be in Singapore (January 20-22, 2011). The content of the meeting includes poster sessions, paper sessions, workshops, and symposia that cover program areas supported by the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), including: retinal diseases;corneal diseases;lens and cataract;glaucoma and optic neuropathies;strabismus, amblyopia, and visual processing;low vision and blindness rehabilitation;ocular genetics;ocular infection, inflammation, and immunology;myopia and refractive error;and collaborative clinical research. The program will also focus on areas of interest highlighted by NIH Director, Francis Collins, MD, PhD, when he discussed the future of NIH including translational research, global health, high throughput technologies (genomics, proteomics, and nanotechnology), and health disparities. This application is a request for funds to enhance the exchange of scientific information between the United States and Asia by supporting travel awards for vision researchers from United States institutions (who must be permanent United States residents or citizens) to attend the Asia-ARVO meeting and also for funds to support a symposium entitled: Immune Responses in Infectious Ocular Disease. The third Asia-ARVO meeting will be held in Singapore (January 20-22, 2011), and local meeting arrangements will be made by the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). Over 1,200 vision researchers from over 30 countries are expected to attend the meeting. The primary goal of the 2011 Asia-ARVO meeting is to promote information exchange among basic and clinical vision scientists. Scientific sessions will emphasize eye diseases and conditions that affect people in Asia. The purpose of the meeting is to share research ideas, establish international collaborations, allow international networking, and facilitate advances in understanding mechanisms of as well as therapeutic interventions for eye diseases. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The Asia-ARVO meeting is held every other year, alternating between Singapore and another Asian country. The objectives of the meeting are presentation of: 1) cutting edge vision research in clinical and basic sciences, 2) innovative scientific and poster sessions, and 3) recent therapeutic advances to combat global blindness. The Asia- ARVO conference is the only regional eye and vision research meeting in an area of the world that although it has an expanding vision research capacity still has dramatic disparities in vision health.